


A Meeting in the Car Park

by TheTeaIsAddictive



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: 500 Words Challenge, Canonical Character Death, Flash Fic, Gen, Metafiction, Original Non-Binary Character - Freeform, Pre-Canon, Prompt Challenge, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTeaIsAddictive/pseuds/TheTeaIsAddictive
Summary: Written for an in-person fanfiction event, where the prompt was 'Sarah Jane Smith and A Sad Angry Whovian in A Car Park'.
Relationships: Sarah Jane Smith & Original Characters
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	A Meeting in the Car Park

Sarah Jane heard the sound of crying as soon as she got out of the little yellow car.

She locked it with a quick press of keys, turning around curiously at the sound. There was someone standing a few feet away from her – a short person with close-cropped, dyed hair and a long scarf. She blinked a little – she could have sworn that it looked like . . . like _his_ scarf. Impossible. She hadn’t seen the Doctor in decades.

“Why here?” she heard them mutter. “Why drop me _here,_ of all places?”

“Are you alright?” she asked, the heels of her boots clicking on the asphalt as she walked towards the person. “Do you need me to call someone?”

“No – no, that’s fine, Ms Smith.”

Sarah Jane blinked. “Do I know you?”

The person gave out a watery smile. “I’m a massive fan.”

“Ah,” she said. “Let me guess – you’re going into journalism.”

The person shrugged non-comittally.

“No,” she said, beginning to get the measure of them. “You’re _in_ journalism – second thoughts?”

The person started crying again. Sarah Jane walked over and laid a hand on their shoulder.

“It’s not – it’s not fair,” they sobbed. “But still – you and Luke, and Clyde, and Rani – you all meant so much to me.”

“I – who?”

The person looked at her oddly. “Luke. Rani. Clyde. Maria?”

“None of those ring a bell, I’m afraid.”

“What year is it?”

Sarah Jane had spent too many times asking that very question while travelling with the Doctor for it to be strange to hear it from the other end. “2007.”

“Oh.” The person seemed to think for a moment before coming to a decision. “You should - there's this juice factory. Bubbleshock - you've seen the adverts. I think they’re getting up to something sketchy.” Their fingers twisted together nervously. 

If she hadn't already made up her mind earlier that day to look at the factory for herself, she would have been convinced to check it out at those words - not only had _her_ senses been alerted, but those of an ordinary person who had no idea aliens existed? Only a fool would dismiss a hunch like that - it would need to be followed-up, verified, but still. Sarah Jane's hunches were well-regarded in her day. She hadn't stopped following them now.

“Ah,” Sarah Jane said. “I see. You tried investigating for yourself and got spooked.”

They nodded gratefully.

“Well,” she smiled, “I’m not quite at retirement age yet, no matter what my editor says. Thanks for the tip.” She saluted them, two-fingered, before straightening her waistcoat and walking in the direction of the exit.

“Sarah Jane,” they said as she walked away. “Thank you. You meant – you mean so much to me.”

“Thank you,” she said, a little confused. She turned around again to follow the exit signs out of the car park, and so noticed neither the portal reopening behind them, nor the last, lingering look they gave before hopping back through, moments before it blinked out of existence.

**Author's Note:**

> You may not know this unless you follow me on tumblr, but I'm a pretty big fan of Doctor Who and SJA. My friends and I recently had a fanfiction night where the final prompt of the night, randomly selected from characters and settings volunteered by the participants, resulted in what you just read. I'm probably not going to post the rest, because it was very silly and not fit for human consumption, but this seemed special.


End file.
